Deemed Hours for Employment Insurance

Policy Statement on Deemed Hours for Employment Insurance

Contract Academic Staff (CAS) facing insecure employment sometimes need to resort to Canada’s Employment Insurance (EI) system. CAS members, especially those who work part-time, have been disadvantaged by the EI system as employers frequently underestimate the number of hours worked.

Academic staff associations should negotiate collective agreement language to establish “deemed hours” worked for the purposes of EI. Such language cannot be arbitrary, and must be based on realistic evaluations of the effort required. In addition the agreement should provide the option of using a member’s personal log of actual hours worked for purposes of establishing the “deemed hours”.